The drama of AI…
in the book community.
If you’re on TIKTOK ( which I am) there’s always some kind of drama around BOOKTOK, the reader/author division of the app. Drama pushes narratives, which pushes likes/reposts/comments which pushes the all-important engagement and ups the algorithms.
The latest drama involves 3 big Booktok content creators ( the app’s name for people who make videos) and an app called Character AI, which basically takes characters authors have created and writes stories around them. Without the author’s permission. And by a bot. Without compensation.
It’s much more complicated than that, but the offshoot is that these 3 creators have done endorsements for the app/program.
Why is that so egregious to the BOOKTOK community, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you.
Booktok is one of- if not THE – largest community that continually supports, bolsters, and promotes INDEPENDENT AUTHORS. And these 3 creators have professed their absolute love and backing of indie authors over the years. To have them turn against everything they have been espousing and support – for money and promotion – a system that not only does not pay indie authors for using their material, but basically steals it to do so, is against everything the BOOKTOK community stands for.
There are thousands of indie authors who use Booktok to promote their books, gain new readers, and interact with other people who love to read and write as much as they do. I am one of these authors. I’ve met so many new reader-friends who like what I write and read and want to discuss it. I’ve garnered many new readers who have bought my books, liked them, and have come back for more. That is community. That is fellowship. That is people who share a common goal and experience.
AI will be the death of the indie author if allowed to continue on unfettered as it has. META has already taken millions of words by authors to train their bots to “write.” And again, without telling the authors or compensating them. There is no other profession where using the work done by someone else for your benefit without paying them for it would be allowed.
I never use AI in my books, covers, or any part of my writing. All the words come from my head. All the plots come from my imagination. All the writing is done by me typing away for hours, daily, 365 days a year. I now have a rider in the front of my indie books repeating this.
Today I saw over forty video posts from authors – baby and seasoned – who condemned these three booktokkers for going to the dark side. This is my feeble way of protesting what those 3 have done. By informing you, just in case you haven’t heard about the drama, is my way of assuring you I don’t use AI and to let you know there are people out there who are cheating their way through the production of a book. I will never call them authors or writers because they aren’t.
How will you know if the book you are reading is AI generated? I,unfortunately, don’t have an answer for that. But if you read a certain genre of book and by many authors, you may begin to see similar plotlines/characters/ and word choices that will clue you to the fact that the book was not really WRITTEN as much as AIWritten.
Lordy, this career just keeps getting more convoluted every day….
